Worth a Thousand Words
by Not Your Average Authoress
Summary: Starting over at a new school, with new friends, Tino struggles to find his place within APH High. Within these struggles, he works to discover the identity of his secret admirer. Soon he becomes drawn to Berwald Oxensteirna, the most intimidating boy in school. Full summary inside!
1. Secret Admirer

_Full Summary: A picture is worth a thousand words. In some cases, this may be true. In Tino's case however, there could be no picture worth more than the thousand words written by a secret admirer and left in his locker. Starting over at a new school, with new friends, Tino struggles to find his place within APH High. Within these struggles, he works to discover the identity of his secret admirer. Soon he becomes drawn to Berwald Oxensteirna, the most intimidating boy in school. As he tries to unravel the mystery that is Berwald and the secret admirer, he will find that the two are more interconnected than he would have ever imagined. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers or any of the characters mentioned in this story. I have nothing worth taking, so please don't sue!_

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"Hey, Tino! Where the heck are you going, class is this way!" Matthias yelled at me. Internally, I groaned and turned around. Would I never get the hang of this school? Everything was just so far apart, it was a little ridiculous. Back in Finland, I had gone to a much smaller school. The entire population was probably about the size of a single class in APH high. So it was beginning to irritate me that this school was so freaking huge.

Ah well, at least I had Den to help me.

"Sorry Den!" I called back sheepishly, jogging over to meet my large Danish friend. Matthias was pretty tall, and well built too. He had blond hair that he jelled into spikes every day, and he stood at least a foot over me. It was a little intimidating. At least it was at first... I had pretty much gotten used to it by now.

I had been here at APH High for about a month now. The move from Finland, my home county, had been really difficult. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find friends, or if the two years of English I had taken as an elective would be enough for me to understand what people were saying. It was pretty nerve wracking the first day.

Luckily, it turned out that I really hadn't needed to worry about anything. This school was used to foreign students, and the teachers were mostly bilingual or from different countries themselves. English was still a little hard for me to grasp at times - everyone spoke so fast!- but with a little help I was usually able to understand. As for friends... Well, as soon as Den spotted me, he had immediately got me to join his group of friends. We called ourselves the Nordics, because we were all from Nordic countries. Matthias was form Denmark, so we called him Den. There were two others in our group, Lukas and Emil. But I'll talk more about them later.

Currently, Den and I were headed to science. All sophomores were required to take biology . I was lucky not to be here last year; I absolutely hate physics, so that would pretty much have been torture for me. I am hopeless at math or anything to do with formulas and equations. I would never understand how Lukas was able to do those things like they were nothing. Den, on the other hand... Was a little school challenged, to say the least.

Biology, however, I did like. That may have been mostly due to the teacher. As Den and I walked into the classroom, we were immediately greeted with the smell of pasta and coffee, as usual. You would think the smell would get old after a while, but it really doesn't. At least, it hasn't so far.

We sat down and got settled, joking and laughing about stupid things like we always did. After the bell rang, Mr. Vargas still wasn't here. This wasn't an unusual occurrence, Mr. Vargas was late to class half the time.

Sure enough, he ran in at about 8:04, almost five minutes after the bell had rung.

"Sorry I'm late, class!" He called cheerfully with a wave. His brown hair was sticking up and his tie was rumpled. For an older guy, I suppose he was kind of good looking. Half the girls in school have crushes on him. They have no chance though; he's married with grandchildren, both of which go to our school. He really doesn't LOOK old enough to be a grandfather...

"That's ok, sir!" Matthias called out. "We don't mind!" Despite his abysmal grades in almost any subject, Den was constantly kissing up to all the teachers.

Mr Vargas chuckled. "Well, good! Ciao, everyone!"

"Ciao, mr Vargas!" We chorused back. Mr Vargas and his grandsons were from Italy, and as he thought it was the best country in the world, he had taken it upon himself to teach all of his students as much Italian as he could.

"Before we start class today, we are going to change seats! The chart is up on the projector, so let's go!"

My stomach dropped suddenly, and I felt a bit queasy. This meant I wouldn't be sitting next to Den anymore.. And I didn't know anyone else in the class. I had been so happy to have a friend at all that I hadn't made an effort to reach out to anyone else. I should have seen this coming! I'm so stupid!

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked to my new seat, all the way across the room from Matthias. I was sitting on the corner seat of the third row, over by a window. So far, the seat next to me was vacant. I almost wished it would stay that way.

My hopes were dashed when a tall guy came over and dropped his backpack in the seat next to mine. When I say tall, I mean REALLY tall, like taller than Den. And a hell of a lot taller than me. He turned slightly in my direction as he sat down, and I quickly busied myself with getting my notes and pen out. I didn't want to be caught staring... That would be awkward. He made no move to introduce himself, and I sure wasn't going to.

Despite my cheerful exterior, I am actually a really shy person. I don't connect to other people easily, even back in Finland. The only reason I even had three friends in the first place was because Den had introduced himself first. Otherwise I never would have been able to work up the nerve.

"All right! Turn to your new table partner and introduce yourselves, because I'm sure a lot of you don't know each other. And if you do, well, introduce yourself again, ok?" Mr. Vargas called front the front of the room.

I gulped. My palms were sweaty and I could feel myself blushing, but I turned to the person next to me with a forced smile.

"H-hi... I'm Tino?" It came out sounding like a question. Perkele, that was bad... And my accent sounded SO STUPID.

The other boy looked at me, and it was all I could do not to scream. As it was, I still let out a small gasp, but I don't think he could hear it.

He... Was... Terrifying. He quite literally LOOMED over me. He was tall, muscular, and looked like he could snap me in half if he wanted to. But that wasn't really the scary part. The scary part was his eyes. They burned into my soul, blue as ice and hard as a rock. He wore wireframe glasses and had blonde hair. Kind of like mine, but cut in a shorter style.

I just sat there, paralyzed, as he extended a hand to me.

" 'M Berwald." He said shortly, gaze still trained on me. I lifted a shaking hand and took his tentatively, giving a timid shake. I tried to smile, but it just wasn't happening. Thankfully, Mr. Vargas called us to attention at that point, so I dropped his hand and looked away as quickly as possible.

P-PERKELE! He was the scariest person I had ever met! And he was going to be my table partner for the next month at least?

There was no way I was going to be able to survive.

~3~3~3~3~  
After class, Den took the opportunity between classes to rant to me about Mr. Vargas and how he was a completely and totally evil horrible person to ever even consider separating two such close friends whose lives depended entirely on one another to even be able to survive. Those were his exact words. He can be kind of a drama queen when he wants to be. Yes, queen. He is very queenly.

In this case though, I was inclined to agree with him. I had gone from heaven (aka sitting with my best friend in biology class) to hell. Berwald was utterly terrifying.

Finally Den stopped his ranting for a moment to ask me a question.

"So, Finny, who you sitting with? I got stuck with that douche Arthur Kirkland, the British one." He said, making a face. He and Arthur didn't exactly get along. Although, Arthur didn't really get along well with anyone from what I had heard.

"Um, his name is Berwald..." I said, trying my hardest to seem casual about it.

Den burst out laughing. "I know, I saw you guys introduce yourselves. Dude, you looked like you were about to piss yourself, you know that? It was freaking hilarious!"

The memory of my terrified face was apparently funny to him, cause he went into another fit of laughter.

"Well, can you blame me?" I huffed at him, crossing my arms. "He's terrifying!"

"Haha, that he is, my small friend," Den said, slinging an arm around my shoulder. "That he is." He was obviously still snickering.

"Hey, I'm not THAT small! You're just a freak!" I said playfully. Swatting at his arm. He laughed, but it was more good natured this time.

"Come on, let's get to class. See you later!" We walked off, waving at each other before leaving. I sighed contentedly. I was lucky. He was a good friend.

The rest of the day was pretty eventless. I had lunch with Emil and Lukas. The two are brothers, and it definitely showed. Both are a bit on the smaller side, like me. Lukas is my age, and Emil is a year younger. Both of them are pretty quiet. I guess you would call it stoic. To tell you the truth, it was relaxing to eat with them, cause I could actually have a conversation without being constantly interrupted.

When I first joined the group, I was a little worried because neither of them seemed to like me. I later found out that Emil (or Ice, as Den called him, he was form Iceland) and Lukas (or Norge, for his roots in Norway) were both just like that. Also, Lukas was extremely outspoken when he didn't like people. I learned that pretty quickly.

After the final bell had rung at 2:35, I met up with the guys and we went to out lockers. Since Den was the kiss ass he was, he had somehow managed to get the office ladies to put all of out lockers together, on the basis that they were my only friends and they just wanted to make the new transfer student feel welcome. Which I suppose was mostly true, but still. It probably helped that all of the office ladies acted like doting grandmothers.

I opened my locker, and was immediately met with a huge mess. I am a really disorganized person, especially when you compare me to Lukas. Anyway, it really wasn't surprising that one small piece of paper escaping the clutter of books and paper already inside my locker went unnoticed by me.

Lukas, on the other hand, apparently noticed it, because a moment later he tapped my shoulder and handed it to me with a shrug.

"This fell out of your locker a second ago," he told me in his monotonous voice. I smiled my thanks and looked at the paper.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, except that it wasn't in my handwriting. It was way too neat to be mine.

To Tino, it said on the cover.

I opened it up, and I almost fainted after reading the first line.

It was a love letter.

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_A/N: Duh duh DUH! All right, now that the first chapter is finished, the rest is up to you, my beloved readers! I have the next few chapters already written, but I'm not going to post them just yet. So if you like this story so far, and you would like me to continue with it, all you need to do is write me a review. I really want to hear from you guys, so if you shave anything to say, anything at all, please review! Also, criticism is welcome, it helps me improve. Thanks for reading!_


	2. The Letter

Holy... Martin... Luther... IT WAS A FREAKING LOVE LETTER. I was really really really not prepared for this. So I just stood there, frozen, as I scanned the words, only really taking in random words or sentences. Little did I know how many times I would reread this first letter in the weeks to come.

My beloved Tino,  
I love you. I love you I love you I love you. I could say it a thousand times and I would still mean it as sincerely as I do now. Whenever you look at me, even if you don't see me, my heart stops. I see your beautiful smile, your eyes lighting up as you laugh, everywhere I go. I could go on and on, but I don't want overwhelm you. I know you will never feel the same way about me; after all, how could you? You're so... Perfect, and I am so flawed. But I wanted to let you knew of my feelings for you, even though I will never have the courage to tell you in person.

All my love, now and forever.

There was no name. All I could do was to stand there like a complete idiot. Finally Den noticed, and slapped me on the back, knocking me out of my daze.

"Hey, Finny, wassamatter? You look like you saw a ghost."

I shook my head frantically, trying to snap out of it.

"I-it's nothing, Den, I'm fine. Just spaced out a bit, you know?"

Luckily, he bought it. I know exactly what would have happened if he had seen that letter; my life would have been hell for the next few days. He's my best friend, but he really really loves to tease me. I can only imagine what kind of things he would have said... I'm shuddering just thinking of it. He has...quite the imagination.

However, Lukas didn't look tell the truth, I wasn't really surprised, he was a lot more perceptive than Den. But it would make my life a little harder. I wasn't a good liar, and I was sure Lukas knew it had something to do with the paper he had handed me.

Sure enough, once Den was gone (to detention... Again) Lukas cornered me. Emil was a little ways behind him, as the two were walking home together. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, not saying a word.

"Ahaha.. Ha.. Hey, what's up, Norge?" I laughed nervously.

"You know, Tino. You know what I want to know." He said in his usual cryptic manner. Emil was slowly moving closer while trying to act uninterested.

Instead of answering, I just tried to avoid his gaze.

"The paper, Tino. Tell me." He said. Short and to the point. Just like him.

I gave up. I always caved in under pressure.

"All right... Fine, it was a letter. A... Love letter. Happy?" I said, looking him in the eye. He nodded, somehow managing to look satisfied while not having any expression on his face whatsoever. It was actually pretty impressive how he managed to do that.

"Yeah. That's what I thought it was. That's why I gave it to you."

I nodded, a little relived that he wasn't making a big deal out of it. "Don't tell Den, ok? He would give me so much crap about it..." I asked imploringly.

"Why would I tell him? He's an idiot. He doesn't need to know." Lukas said with a shrug. "But you have to do something for me in return."

I nodded slowly, a little apprehensive. "What is it?"

"Don't call me Norge."

I blinked, startled. Well. I wasn't expecting that. But I slowly smiled.

"Of course! I didn't know you didn't like that name." I said with a relived sigh. It could have been so much worse.

Lukas nodded. " I hate it. It's stupid, and I don't understand why Matthias calls me that in the first place. So thanks. We have to go now."

Well, the most awkward thing about that conversation was actually not admitting that it was a love letter that I had received, but he fact that I actually did know why Matthias called him Norge. I had always wondered why he paid so much attention to Lukas, and about a week after we met, I worked up the courage to ask him. The answer, to this day, still surprises me. Not the answer itself, but how freely he admitted it. It turns out that Den is actually bisexual, and is head-over-heels in love with Lukas.

I waved the two brothers off, then headed in the opposite direction. My house was within walking distance of the school, which was nice. It meant I didn't have to pay bus fare or have my parents drive me when they were already so busy. Besides, I liked walking! Even when it got cold. I was from Finland, for God's sake. It didn't get near as cold here in America as it did back home. I could deal with it.

I turned my iPod on as I was walking, plugging in my earbuds. The earbuds had been a gift from my friend when I was moving, and they were patterned as the Finnish flag. Just a way to keep me thinking of home.

Currently, my favorite band was Within Temptation. Some of their songs were a little dark, but they were catchy, and the lead singer had an amazing voice. Even if it was a little high pitched.

Anyway, I was walking along the sidewalk, closing my eyes and letting the music flow through me, when I bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, opening my eyes to see who I had hit. I froze.

It was Berwald... He nodded at me, but he didn't leave. He just stared at me intensely with those t-terrifying eyes... I smiled nervously and continued on my way, not daring to look back in the hope the he wasn't still staring at me. Because if he was I would probably just start running. And no matter how scary he was, I didn't really want to hurt his feelings.

However, my encounter with him was soon forgotten when I reached home. I made a steaming mug of hot cocoa and settled down on the couch, pulling out my homework. As I did, the letter fell out of my math binder. I couldn't resist the temptation, and I reread it. About three times.

Maybe it was silly for me to freak out so much over a single letter, but I realized I wasn't going to be getting any work done until I figured this out. I just wasn't used to this. I wasn't really good looking or anything... I mean, I was pretty short, and I wasn't muscular or really even close. close. I was reasonably strong, but it wasn't like I worked out. There was really nothing extraordinary about the rest of my appearance either. Quite the contrary, actually. I had blond hair that was in the same style it had been since second grade. my eyes were kind of bizarre, a strange violet color that I had only seen on a few other people.. but there really wasn't anything special about me... So what was it that this girl saw that she liked so much?

But then, was it really so much of a stretch that someone might like me? I mean, I wasn't a mean person, I tried to get along with people. Maybe she liked friendly guys? And I guess some girls might find my accent cute...And it wasn't like I was out of shape or anything. Maybe it was possible for someone to like me?

If only I had some way to contact her...

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_A/N:_ _Yes yes yes, the letter is utterly DRIPPING with sap and cheesiness. But the person who wrote it doesn't have a lot of experience in this matter (both the character in the story and the author herself). So once again, I will post the next chapter once I get a review on this one. Because I don't want to post a story that no one has any interest in. So review, my lovelies~ _

_Edit: Yes, there will be a chapter from Berwald's POV later~_


	3. Estonians, Latvians, and Poles, Oh My!

I woke up the next morning with a huge headache. This wasn't an unusual occurance for me, I was pretty used to them by now. But all the same, it seemed like a bad omen. Luckily it wasn't an absolutely terrible one, so I just took some aspirin, stuffed a few in my backpack for later just in case, and in an hour I was off to school.

I got to school earlier than I was used to, at about 7:30, so I still had a half hour before classes actually started. So I went to my locker. I paused a moment before opening it, secretly hoping a that another note would fall out. Unfortunately, nothing happened, so I just sighed and got my stuff for my fourth and fifth classes, Algebra 1 and World History. Then I started walking around the school, occasionally running into a few people I recognized as I waited for my friends to get here.

I was going to the cafeteria to get some food (I had forgotten to eat breakfast), and I was a little distracted and not looking where I was going. And, of course, I ran into someone. This time, however, unlike yesterday, we both crashed to the floor.

The edge of my textbook dug into my spine as I tried to get up. Once I had managed to sit up,I saw the girl I had run into still sprawled on the floor. She was wearing a short red skirt, white short sleeved blouse, and black flats. She was actually kind of cute, with blonde hair brushing the top of her shoulders and green eyes. I extended my hand to her,and she grabbed it to pull herself up with a huff.

"I'm really sorry about that!" I said with a smile.

"Like, you really need to watch where you're going!"

I did a double take. That... Was not a girl's voice, this girl had a guy's voice. With a Polish accent. But... But...

"Felicks? What's going on?" A slender brunette guy with hair about the same length as the "girl's" walked up behind me.

"Liieet, this guy, like, totally ran into me!" The... Um... Guy, whose name was apparently Felicks, glomped the other guy, hiding behind him. He peeked out from behind him, looking at me shyly. It was kind of a change form the guy who had just told me off a few seconds ago.

"It's ok, I'm sure he didn't mean to, Felicks," he said soothingly. He turned to me with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about him. I'm Toris, and this is Felicks."

I shook his hand. My sense were slowly coming back to me. It's not like I'm a homophobe, far from it. I just wasn't used to seeing crossdressers. And Felicks really did look like a girl.

"I'm Tino. Sorry about running into you!" I said with a smile, looking at Felicks. He made some kind of "eep!"noise and hid behind Toris again.

"Sorry about this, Tino, he's just really shy around new people." Toris said apologetically.

"No, no, it's fine! I totally understand, I have kind of the same problem," I confessed sheepishly. Toris looked a little disbelieving.

"Really? You don't seem very-" he started, before he was interrupted by someone.

"T-Toris!" A younger boy flew into Toris's arms, shaking like a leaf. He had blond hair and was probably a freshman, though he looked a lot younger.

"I-Ivan is c-chasing me a-again!" He stuttered with a wail. Another guy came jogging up behind him, looking a little scared but not as terrified as the other. He actually looked a little familiar. He was blond as well,with pale skin and was wearing glasses.

"Raivis! What did you do this time? Why is Ivan mad at us again?" He said exasperatedly, a little out of breath. I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to pinpoint this guy.

"I didn't try to! He was pushing down on my head again and I asked him to stop but he wouldn't so I told him that Natalia was behind him! So he freaked out and then he got mad at me!" Raivis cried, burying his face in Toris's chest.

"Holy Martin Luther, Raivis..." The blond guy muttered, face palming. He had an Estonian accent... Wait a second!

"Eduard?" I exclaimed, staring at him incredulously. He looked up a moment later and stared at me, confused.

"Have we met before?" He asked.

"It's Tino!" I said excitedly. Comprehension dawned on his face.

"Tino! Since when do you go to our school?" He asked.

"You know Tino, Eduard?" Toris asked, Raivis still shaking in his arms.

"Yes, Tino and I were pen pals a few years ago, in sixth grade. Our teachers used to be friends, so they had their classes have pen pals." Eduard explained.

"Ya, Eduard and I got to be pretty good friends, despite the fact that we never actually met each other!" I laughed. "You look exactly the same as your picture did," I teased.

Before we could catch up on each other's lives, however, Matthias came running through the cafeteria doors and tackled me. We both fell to the ground, him on top of me, and me desperately trying to catch my breath.

"TINO! I've been looking for you freaking everywhere! I thought you were sick or you didn't come to school or you got hurt or kidnapped or maybe even DIED." He said all in one breath, his spikey hair even more messy than usual. And, as usual, I was completely unable to follow his logic. So instead I just gasped out,

"Den... Can't... Breath..." He just sat there for a second, like he didn't understand, then laughed and got off.

"Come on, we gotta tell Norge and Ice that I found you!" A with that he dragged me off, not even sparing a glance to the others standing around us. I grinned at Eduard, a little embarrassed, and tried to wave. He waved back, looking a little worried. Then we turned a corner and they were out of sight.

33333333

I walked into art, which was my third class of the day. The first few classes had been boring as hell. And painful too... The aspirin hadn't started kicking in until halfway through second period. At least now I was able to draw... That always helped to relax me. Plus Lukas was in my art class, so we always sat next to each other. Although his drawing skills made me feel insignificant... He was really good.

I sat down in my normal spot, got out my pencil and paper, and looked around for Lukas. He wasn't here yet... And, oddly enough, neither was Ms. Karpusi, the art teacher. Instead, a strict looking woman with tan skin and shiny black hair was sitting in the teacher's desk. She looked similar to Gupta, the quiet Egyptian boy who always hung out with Sadiq.

I sighed quietly and started to sketch a bit. I guess she was our sub. I just hoped we wouldn't be doing anything stupid and that we could just draw. That was really the only reason I was taking art class to begin with.

Lukas finally walked in about a minute before the bell was going to ring, and- HOLY MARTIN LUTHER SINCE WHEN WAS BERWALD IN MY ART CLASS?

He walked in right behind Lukas, tall and intimidating as always. He met my eyes for a moment, causing me to squeak a bit (yeah, it was pretty embarrassing) and then looked away quickly, his face turning a bit red. Was he... Blushing?

Lukas came to sit next to me, looking smug about something. I knew he wasn't going to tell me though, since he was looking at me oddly. So I just put on my usual air-headed smile, and was about to say something, but was cut off by the bell.

Luckily, the substitute had instructions to let us have a free draw day, which I was pretty happy about. About halfway through the class, I glanced over at Lukas's drawing, and holy crap was it good. It was an ethereal scene of a snow covered hill surrounding an iced-over lake, with fairies and goblins and other mythical creatures dancing around it. Lukas was completely absorbed in his work, stopping only to brush his blond hair out of his face.

I was drawing a more cheerful scene- a Finnish winter festival. It was one of my favorite times back home, and one of the things I would miss the most. The scene I was drawing was of the food booths, with fragrant steam rising from the tents and people biting into my favorite delicacies. I could almost taste it..

A few people had gotten up and were talking to their friends, which was something Ms. Karpusi was pretty lax about. Apparently the sub was too, becaus she didn't say anything. I looked around. Berwald was sitting in a corner desk, working very intently on something. I was suddenly interested, and a little tempted to go over and ask. The I remembered his expression when we were introduced, and I decided not to risk it. It wasn't like we were friends, anyway, so it would be awkward for me to ask him what he was drawing. Ohh... All this indecision was making my head hurt more.

I just turned back to my drawing and absorbed myself both in it and the good memories it carried, not stoping until the bell jolted me out of my stupor. However, now that I was done with the drawing, I didn't really know what to do with it... Well, Den was always asking about what Finland had been like. Maybe I would just touch it up and give it to him later. With that decision made, I packed up my stuff and walked to biology, an absentminded smile on my face.

When I reached the class room, Den wasn't there yet, despite the fact that over half of the class already was... Berwald included. I gulped nervously and steeled myself for another awkward class, totally disregarding the irrational urge I had had in art class to go talk to him. I went over to my seat and pulled my chair out, sitting down and preparing myself for the silence that was sure to follow.

So obviously, when Berwald spoke to me, I almost jumped out of my seat in shock.

"Wh't w're y' drawin' in art?" He asked me quietly, almost... Shyly. It took me a second to understand his question, but when I got it, I deals again surprised. Why would he ask me that?

"O-oh, I was drawing this!" I said with a slightly less forced smile, pulling the drawing out of the side pocket of my bag. I set it on the desk, relieved that the pencil hadnt smeared. "It's a Finnish winter festival, it used to be one of my favorite things I did all year."

Berwald was looking at the drawing with an intensity that kind of unnerved me.

"'S good." He said abruptly, glancing up at me then back at the drawing. "Looks l'ke a Swedish f'estiv'l I us'd t' go t'."

"Really?" I asked with a smile that wasn't at all forced. We had something in common! Hallelujah! "I had no idea Sweden celebrated that kind of thing! You know, our cultures probably have a lot in common, now that I think about it.."

"Hn." Berwald said with a nod, that I took to mean he agreed.

"So, what were you drawing in art, Berwald?" I asked, satisfying my curiousity from earlier.

He suddenly turned red, looking away as he slid my drawing back over to me. "...w'snt drawin'... I w's wr'ting someth'ing." He mumbled. I wondered if I had asked him something embarrassing without meaning to.

Again, I was saved by the bell.

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_A/N: All right guys, I know I ask this every chapter, but please review! Also, if you want to see more of my work besides this story, please let me know, and I'll post some of my one shots on here. I probably won't post another multichapter until this one is finished._

_Replies: _

_perfect suspect: Thanks very much! I may write a few one shots while working on this, but I won't start another multichapter fic until this one is finished. _

_TwinsOnDaHaus: Thank you so much! Yeah, I know it's a cliche, but I don't really have a lot of romantic experience xD I'm really happy you liked it! _


	4. Speak

"All right, class, we have five minutes until the bell rings and I have nothing else to teach you! There's no homework, so why don't you guys just talk amoungst your young selves and make friends with the world!"

Sometimes I suspected that Mr. Vargas was high on something or other. I think its more of the fact that he just loved life, but you could never be sure... That smile and the way he talked just reminded me of someone who did drugs. Then again, one of his grandsons, Feliciano, was like that as well...maybe it just ran in the family. Or maybe it was an Italian thing. Who knows?

So, we were supposed to talk? Den looked like he was pretty into an argument with Arthur. They looked like they were about to bite each others heads off... Maybe I would just talk to Berwald instead of going to break them up. After all, Alfred wouldn't let anything happen to Arthur, and Den wouldn't want to fight him.

Besides, I really should get to know some other people besides the group I usually hang out with. After all, we might not be friends forever, no matter what Den says.

"So y' l'ked th' fest'vals in f'inland?" Berwald asked me in that deep voice of his.

"Why do you talk like that?" I blurted out, then clapped my hands over my mouth. Shit! That was so rude! So so so so rude! He must think I'm a horrible person now! I could feel my face heating up like it always does when I'm upset. Please don't let me cry, dear lord please don't let me cry like I tend to do when I am emotionally overwhelmed...

"I h've a spe'ch impend'ment. 'S h'rd for me t' t'alk."

I blinked. The way he said it was so... Matter of fact. Like it didn't really matter to him. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting. I was more looking for homicidal rage or something along those lines.

"O-oh. I didn't know. Sorry if that was a touchy subject or anything..." I stammered, face still a little red.

"'S fine. I'd r'ther pe'ple ask th'n j'st 'void me or act l'ke I've g't s'me k'nda disease."

Again, his voice was really matter of fact, but his face told it all. There was a bitterness in his expression that I had never seen before, and it made me wonder just why he was so lonely. It couldn't just be because of that, could it? I mean, there was no way people at this school we so prejudiced...

"W-well, I'm sure that's not why people avoid you... That's just unfair! I mean, I think it's just really stupid for anyone to be judged just because of something like that, you know?"

Berwald glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, light reflecting off of his glasses so that I couldn't see his expression. He muttered something that I couldn't make out, the rest of his face as stoic as ever.

"Sorry, what? I couldn't hear you."

"...n't wh't most people th'nk..." He mumbled.

"Well..." I didn't really have a comeback to that, because it was kinda true. Most people seemed to think that having a disorder made you a freak. But with Berwald... I couldn't really see why anyone would think that if they just got to know him! After all, he hasn't been mean to me in the slightest. After I got over his appearance, he's actually been one of the nicest people I've met since coming here, even nicer than Den.

"T'no?"

Oh, crap! I totally spaced off there for a second.. Sorry, Berwald, I'm a little out of it today. Headache, you know.."

He just nodded. I was kind of getting used to that- the whole strong and silent persona he had going. Or maybe it was just shyness. I hadn't quite figured that out yet.

The bell rang a few seconds later ( I know, time flies, right?). With a quick goodbye to Berwald, I slung my backapack over my shoulder and walked off, lost in thought.

As I headed to my locker, I was once again intercepted by someone: this time, the brunette from earlier. Toris, I think his name was.

"Um, hey! It's Toris, right?" I asked with a cheerful wave, before noticing that something seemed to be wrong. The calm, steady person I had met earlier seemed to be gone, replaced by someone entirely different. Toris's face was chalky white, like he was about to faint, and he was literally sweating bullets. His entire face was damp. He was breathing really heavily, and was looking from side to side so often that he looked like a scared rabbit.

"Tino, you have to help me." He whimpered. "Please, please, hide me!"

"W-what?" I asked in bewilderment. He was seriously freaking me out, he looked like he had seen a ghost or something. "What's wrong?"

"Oh no, oh no oh no oh no! It's too late, here he comes!" Toris sincerely looked like he was going to cry, his eyes welling over with tears. "Please Tino, you have to help me! Please!"

Before I could reply, someone called out Toris's name.

"Oh, Toris~ there you are! Why do you run from me, Toris? You know that makes Vanya very sad, da?"

* * *

_A/N: Ok, much much shorter chapter then usual, but... I have no excuse. I hope you all enjoyed it though, and please review!_

_To khaji-da lover: _

_Not to give anything away, but... Yes, Lukas knows. There's someone else who knows as well. _


	5. The Ivans are Coming !

_full title: The Ivans are Coming, the Ivans are Coming!_

* * *

"Oh, Toris~ there you are! Why do you run from me, Toris? You know that makes Vanya very sad, da?"

I turned slowly at the sound of the childish voice, curious to see what on earth could scare the unflappable Toris so badly. How could some with that voice be so terrifying that it would make the guy look like he was going to wet his pants? I was sure whoever it was couldn't be SO terrible.

I was wrong... So very, very wrong.

The person who had addressed Toris was over six feet tall, to begin with. Taller than Berwald by a few inches, and I had thought he was the tallest guy in school. Besides that, he was BIG, like a football player. Normally I wouldn't be afraid of that, you know, I wasn't really intimidated by guys who were simply huge. No, the scariest fact about him was the innocent expression on his face. He was smiling a child's smile, all sugar sweetness with lots of pure white teeth. But at the same time, it wasn't a happy smile, more of an I'm-going-to-kill-you-and-rip-out-your-insides-whi le-you-plead-for-mercy-and-I-will-laugh smile, if you know what I mean. He had violet eyes (like mine) that seemed to glow with a creepy kind of light, blond hair, and was wearing a tan coat with a scarf.

I could hear Toris whimpering behind me, and then something dawned on me.

Oh... This was Ivan.

Please excuse me while I go cry in a hole of despair.

"Oh? Who is this little one?" Ivan asked, cocking his head and smiling at me. Well.. At least his attention was away from Toris. Who was currently cowering behind me and refused to speak. I wondered what Ivan had done to him to make him have this kind of reaction to his presence. And that thought made my blood boil a little. I don't like people bullying my friends.

"I'm Tino. Who are you?" I asked, my voice coming out a lot stronger than I had thought it would. There may have been a little squeak at the end, but I thought I did pretty well, considering.

"Ah, Tino! Eduard told me about you! I am Ivan!" He brightened up so much, it was a little creepy.

"U-um, yeah... Raivis mentioned you.." I stuttered, hoping that this was a good connection. Apparently it wasn't, because Ivan started smiling even more and doing this freakish chant... Something like "kolkolkolkolkol..."

"Raivis is a bad boy, he will be punished later for what he did to Vanya. But he mentioned me to his new friend, so maybe I will not punish him so badly... But I will still punish him a little. Da, that is good."

He seemed to calm down a little bit with this decision, and smiled normally again (or what seemed to be normal for him, at least). I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Although that talk quotation "punishing" Raivis sounded.. Not good, to say the least.

"So Toris, why were you running from me?" He said, fiddling with his scarf. "Do you not want to be my friend anymore?"

He seemed like a totally different person now, fielding with the ends of his scarf self consciously and looking down at the ground, eyes flashing up every now and then to glance at Toris. My eyes almost bugged out of my head. What was the deal with this guy?

"U-u-um... Ivan, I-I-I-" Toris stammered so much that I couldn't tell what he was trying to say. I peeked behind me when I felt his fingers dig into my shoulder blade with desperation. He wasn't looking at me though, just kind of using me as a security blanket of some sort.

"Hey, leave him alone! Can't you see he's scared?" I blurted out suddenly, then clapped a hand over my mouth. God, WHY? Why the hell did I say that?

Both of them were looking at me with astonishment. Toris with awe in his eyes, and Ivan with what looked like a little bit of fear... But why on earth would he be scared of me? That vanished pretty quickly though... Within seconds he just looked mad. Really mad.

"Why does little Tino yell at me? That isn't very nice of him... I will have to punish you, Tino. I am sorry. But you must learn respect. It is very bad to yell a people, didn't you know?" He started advancing at me, reaching into his coat.

PERKELE! There was no way he had a gun or anything in there, right? I swallowed painfully, wondering if I could make a break for it. Nope, there was no way. Maybe I could scream for help? Nope, nope, apparently not. My throat was a dry as sandpaper, probably incapable of making even a tiny squeak at this point.

So instead, I just stood there, completely frozen, as he walked toward me, starting to pull out something that glimmered in the light, like metal..

"Leave h'm al'one, Iv'n."

Everybody stopped short, eyes turning to the same place. Toris just looked startled, Ivan looked confused, and my eyes started to well up with happy tears. I had never known I could be so glad to see Berwald. But then again, I had never known that he would be my savior from psychotic Russians.

"Hm? Why is Berwald interfering with my fun?" Ivan asked, a slightly heartbroken expression on his face, like Berwald had betrayed him somehow.

Instead of answering, Berwald glanced at me, keeping his head turned towards Ivan, and beckoned to me. Taking the opportunity, I dashed over while Ivan was distracted and hid behind him. Kind of shameful behavior, I guess, but I was terrified and Berwald was a lot stronger than me and... I trusted him.

"J'st st'p m'ssing w'th h'm. He's m'... Friend." Berwald said. His voice was monotonous as usual, but I caught a definite hesitation at the end. Why would he hesitate over the word... Oh, of course. I had forgotten how socially awkward he was. He probably wasn't sure if it was ok to call me his friend.

"Oh, is that so? And you would fight me for him? He might not even care about you, you know. Most people who act like they care about you don't in the end."

The worst thing about that (besides what he said about Berwald of course) was that he didn't say it in a mean way. He acted like it was just a fact of life, with regret and bitterness mixed into his tone. I could see Berwald visibly flinch when the impact of Ivan's words hit him. He went back to his stoic attitude in an instant.

"Y'ah, I w'uld."

Wait.. What? Did he just say he would fight Ivan for me? My brain was racing into overdrive, analyzing each and every syllable of his words, trying desperately to see any hidden meaning beyond the actual words he said. Was he bluffing? Or was he serious?

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even notice when Ivan left. I only jolted out of it when Berwald tapped me on the shoulder, looking concerned.

"Ya ok, T'no?" He asked, eyes squinting at me as he bent down so that we were face to face. "Iv'n d'dn't h'rt y', did he? Y' look a l'ttle..." He let his sentence trail off, waiting for me to answer him.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine... He's just a little creepy is all." I laughed nervously, trying to smile, but I don't think I pulled it off very well. Or maybe he could just see through me, because he definitely wasn't fooled. But he nodded slowly, all the same, and stood back up to his usual height.

I was still so preoccupied that I didn't notice when he left. And I felt terrible. He had just saved me, and I blew him off like he was nothing. What on earth was wrong with me?

I opened my locker, and at that moment, the only thing that could have caught my attention fluttered out of my locker.

A folded up piece of paper.

I snapped out of it immediately, and reached down to pick it up. My fingers were trembling and my heart pounding in excitement as I unfolded it.

As I read it, a huge smile spread over my face.

Dearest Tino,  
I hope you don't mind that I continue to write to you, but this is the only way I am able to express myself fully. If you want me to stop, I will. I would never do anything you didn't want me to.  
To begin with, I wanted to tell you that you are amazing. I've seen you in the hallways before, without your friends, and you look insecure. Don't be. You have no reason to be insecure with yourself. You are the single most fantastic person I have ever met. And believe me, I would know. I don't deserve you, I know that, but I can't help but hope that maybe you will give me a chance.  
I am yours, now and forever.

I thought that was all, but there was another piece of paper attached that I hadn't noticed. It was just a scrap, obviously torn from a notebook, and the handwriting was a scrawl. Whoever had written it had obviously been in a major hurry. It had only one sentence on it.

I will never let anyone hurt you.

* * *

_A/N: I am soooo sorry this is late, guys! It's just been a really hectic week for me, lots of varsity tennis matches and school related stress. So not a lot of time for writing... Which is also why this chapter is a bit shorter than my other ones have been. With an extra shot of terribly cheesy romanticness at the end there. Next update will be on time and hopefully a little longer though, I promise! Please keep up your awesome reviews, by the way, you guys are GREAT about that, and all your reviews really mean a lot to me. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all Friday!_

_To khaji-da lover: __Yeah, I try to reply to all of my reviewers if I can! And thank you! I'm glad you're still enjoying it~ also, is your name a reference to something? What does it mean? It's been kind of bugging me xD _


	6. Nightmares and Friendly Quarrels

I stumbled into school Friday morning, a few days after I received the second letter. I had dark circles under my eyes and my lids were half shut from exhaustion. I hate not being able to sleep. The hallways may as well have been empty for all I noticed... Wait, crap. They were totally empty. The bell must have rung without me noticing.

I leaned back against a wall next to a row of plain, boring lockers, sliding down until my rear hit the floor with a thump. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. Maybe I should just go home.. It wasn't like I would be able to function having gotten about two hours of sleep total the last three nights. I was basically a zombie.

God, it had been so long since I had a nightmare, I had forgotten how terrible they were.

When I was a little kid, I used to have the same nightmare over and over and over again, night after night. That had finally ended when I was about ten has old. Before that, thought, my parents had taken me to a therapist to see if they could help. Therapists SUCK. Mine just told me to try to relax, and Ethan gave me pills that didn't even really work, except to prolong the dreams. So why did the dreams have to come back now? It's been six years! Whyyyyy...

My eyelids started drooping again, and I slapped myself a bit to try and stay awake. Yeah, I definitely needed to go home. There was no way I was going to be able to stay awake through any of my classes like this. On the other hand, it probably wasn't safe for me to be walking home in this condition either, knowing my luck I would probably end up being hit by a car. Or being mugged. Or taking a wrong turn and getting lost in a bad part of town.

In the end, I just decided to go and lay down in the nurses office and go to sleep. If I was lucky, maybe I would even be able to go to a few of my other classes in the afternoon.

Crap, how did fifteen minutes pass already? I had better get to the office quick or else they'll call my parents at work and report me missing... That would suck a whole lot. My parents don't really need anything else to worry about, they have enough on their plates.

A few minutes later I was stumbling into the office, and was greeted by the alarmed look of the woman behind the desk.

"C-can I help you?" She stammered, pausing in her typing. I think I managed to slur out my name and a semi reasonable excuse for being late, and the word sleep.

The next thing I remember is blinking my eyes open to find myself lying on a cot, with a few blankets covering me, feeling slightly more refreshed and able to function than I was... What time is it anyway?

I looked at the clock and groaned. It was lunchtime already, Den was sure to be freaking out by now. I was just reaching for my phone to text him that I was alright, just in the nurses office, but just as my fingers closed around it I realized that there was something wrong with the room I was in.

Trying to pinpoint what it was (curse my sleep deprived mind!) I slid my eyes around the room, before they came to rest on a hulking figure to my left. I wasn't alone.

"B-Berwald!" I squeaked, my eyes bulging. "How long have you... What are you doing here?"

At least, that's what I meant to say. I'm pretty sure it probably came out as more of an incomprehensible mumbling.

"N't l'ng, j'st 'bout five m'nutes. Are y' ok?" He asked, a strange look of concern in his eyes. I wasn't really used to people being concerned over me, especially ones I don't know very well.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess, but what are you doing here?" I demanded. Maybe it was rude to just brush off his question like that, but can you blame me? He was watching me sleep, for God's sake!

"I w's with m' speech th'rapist when y' c'me in. Made a l't 'f noise. T'no, what's wr'ng?" He leaned forward, that look of intense concentration that he he been wearing when I bumped into him about a week ago back on his face.

"It's really nothing, Berwald, I just haven't been sleeping well in the past few days, and I needed to catch up a bit." This explanation obviously didn't satisfy him, and he was about to ask another question when the door banged open.

"TINO!" Den burst into the room, charging forward like a train towards me. He stopped short when he saw Berwald. His gaze shifted back and forth between the two of us, incredulous.

"What the fuck is going on here?" He asked. The question was obviously directed at me, but he was looking at Berwald with a murderous glare when he asked it. At that, Berwald stood up and left the room, exchanging a strange look with Lukas when he passed him. Apparently Lukas and Emil had followed Den in.

"Tino, what was he doing here?" Den asked again.

"It's nothing Den, he heard me come into the nurses office earlier, he just wanted to make sure I was ok."

"The hell he did! What are you even doing in here, Tino? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Den, I'm just in here because I haven't been sleeping well and I needed to catch up." I replied, repeating my words to Berwald a few minutes ago.

"So why didn't you tell me? You're MY friend, not HIS! How come he knew you were here before I did?"

That really got my blood boiling. I was sleep deprived, confused, and to make matters worse I was getting another headache. Who the hell did he think he was to try to control my life?

"Oh, I don't know Den, maybe because I was passing out from exhaustion in the hallway, and I barely made it here in time to fall asleep? Maybe because I was so tired that I couldn't even form a complete sentence! And why the hell do you think you can control who I'm friends with? I can hang out with whoever I want!" I yelled at him. The nurse came running to the door, flustered and wringing her hands in agitation.

"Boys, please-"

"Not if you want to still be friends with me, Tino! Don't forget that I was the only one who reached out to you first! If you keep trying to be friends with that freak, then... Then I won't be friends with you! It's him, or me. Which do you choose, Tino?"

* * *

_Authoress note: dun dun dun! Who will Tino choose in the end?_  
_All right, you guys, I am honestly so so so sorry about my ridiculously long absence... I got caught up in grades and finals at the end of the year, and then I had the longest bout of writers block that I think I've ever had in my life. (I also got obsessed with Sherlock, so that took up a lot of time.. And if you ship Johnlock there will most likely be some fics about them coming up ;) anyway, I'm so sorry, and from now on I will do my absolute best to continue updating every Friday until the story is complete, I promise! I also apologize if this chapter isn't up to my usual standards, I'm a bit out of practice with writing these characters._  
_As usual, read and review! Thanks so much for sticking with this story!_


	7. Choices and Unexpected Questions

Den continued glaring at me, waiting for my answer. I was still pretty much stunned. I had never seen this side of Den before, and had actually never imagined him being like this at all. In my mind, he was always happy go lucky and carefree and kind of stupid, to be honest, but never threatening. I was confused as to why he was so worked up about this.

I was saved from having to respond, however, thanks to Lukas.

"Matthias." He said in his usual deadpan voice crossing his arms and fixing Den with one of those stares that could either freeze you to the bone or melt ice, take your pick.

"Stay out of this, Norge, its none of your business."

I had never seen him dismiss Lukas like that before. Normally he was hanging on to his every word. I was a little bit scared of how Lukas was going to react. What ended up happening surprised me a lot more than it should have.

"Actually, it is my business, asshole. You aren't Tino's only friend in the world, you know. He probably wouldn't die if you stopped talking to him. Since you're being such a dick, I really wouldn't be surprised if he ended up choosing Berwald over you. I know I would."

He spat the words in Den's face, the lack of emotion making them all the worse. I don't think he realized how much he was hurting him... Or maybe he did. All the same, I could see pain register behind Den's angry expression before he turned and left the room without a word.

"Thanks, Lukas." I said quietly. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know." He nodded, still staring after Den. We sat in silence for a few minutes, then both he and Emil turned and left the room as well, leaving me on my own. They brushed past the nurse as they left, who was standing stock still, seeming to be in some kind of shock.

I heaved a sigh and laid back down on the cot. Who would I really have chosen? I wasn't entirely sure I knew. A few days ago, I would have said Den, no question. But after today, my resolve wasn't quite so strong. After all, Den was the one who had pressured me, not Berwald. As a hater of stress, if that was going to happen often in our friendship, I wasn't sure I would be able to handle it.

Well, hopefully I wouldn't be confronted with that choice anytime soon.

33333

"What? Sophomore retreat?" I asked blankly.

"Yeah, didn't you hear about it? All our first period teachers were supposed to announce it this morning. We're you spacing out or something, Tino?" Eduard explained, looking a little bemused.

"Well, I wasn't actually here this morning, Ed, so no. I didn't hear about it."

"Ok, seriously, are you ok? You normally aren't this... Well.. Sarcastic, I guess. Is something wrong?" He asked. Damn, he was way too perceptive for his own good. Freaking smart people and their freaking smart looking glasses...

"It's nothing, Ed, I'm sorry. I just had a bit of a fight with Den, so I'm still upset about that. Anyway, what retreat?"

I guess he got from my tone of voice that I really didn't want to talk about this right now, so instead he began answering my other question.

"So once a year, each class goes away for a bonding trip of sorts with the rest of their classmates. Last year it was pretty lame, we just went up to a whole team exercise sort of thing where we did absolutely nothing. This year isn't much better... We are going camping for a weekend..."

Eduard obviously wasn't looking forward to this (probably dreading the approaching three day separation from his precious computer and all his other electronics), but my day was suddenly looking a whole lot better.

"Seriously? We're going CAMPING?" I asked excitedly, breaks out into a smile. Camping was one of my all time favorite things to do. I'm a pretty outdoorsy kind of person when I get the chance to be, and camping with my friends honestly seemed like the awesomest thing I could possibly think of.

"Yeah.." Eduard sighed. "Unfortunately. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to make the best of it... How do people survive without computers for that long?" He muttered under his breath.

"Come on, Ed, don't be such a downer! This is gonna be so much fun!" I said, slinging my arm around his shoulder. I was literally almost jumping up and down with excitement. The only question was whether or not I would be able to wait two weeks until the retreat actually happened.

Ed shrugged my arm off of him, stepping away a bit with a good natured smile on his face. "All right Tino, I get the idea. You're really excited about this. Just don't blame me for not jumping up and down for joy at the idea of living like a savage for three days."

I rolled my eyes at him, and we walked down the hall in companionable silence for a whole. School had ended about a half an hour ago, so there were still quite a few people here, for sports practice and things like that. I had had enough time to talk to my teachers about the classes I had missed this morning, so i wasn't too behind on anything.

I looked over at Eduard, and noticed he had his thinking face on. This face was pretty much his usual expression, but this time he was glancing at me every once in a while, as if trying to figure me out.

"What's up, Ed? You've got your thinking face on again." I asked a bit nervously. I don't like being studied too closely.

"Well, um, actually..." He trailed off, still glancing at me, then quickly averting his gaze.

"Actually what?" This was definitely not standard Eduard behavior, he pretty much tended to say what was on his mind without beating around the bush like this.

He took a deep breath and said it all in a rush.

"All right, please don't take this the wrong way, I swear I'm not trying to be rude or anything and you don't have to answer this, but I've been watching you lately and it's making me wonder if I've drawn the right conclusion... Tino, um, are you gay?"

And I froze.

* * *

_Hi guys, I'm back! Sorry this is a little late, I've been camping for the past few days with no wifi, so I couldn't send this to my lovely friend who manages my account for me. But luckily, as I was camping, I came up with some ideas for later chapters that I'm really excited about writing! Yep, my camping trip was where I got the idea for the retreat. So I'm definitely going to have a lot of fun writing those, and I hope all of you like them too!_  
_Now, I know this chapter is a little bit of filler, mostly, but at least we got to a pretty crucial question... Is Tino gay? 0.o unfortunately, you'll have to wait till Friday to find out!_  
_Thanks so much for reading, I really hope you liked it! And it would make me ever so happy if you, my wonderful readers, would leave a review! You guys have been great about that, by the way, I love reading the awesome reviews you guys send me~ so until Friday, farewell_


	8. Answers and Confusion

"Tino, um, are you gay?"

There was honestly nothing I could do to respond to that question other than stare at Ed in complete shock. No, no, no! Not again! This couldn't be happening again! Not now, not when I was just starting to settle in!

"T-Tino? Are you ok?" Ed waved his hand in front of my face. I couldn't think what else to do, so I turned on the spot and ran. I raced down halls in the school I had never even been near before, just trying to take routes that would keep me away from people. I heard Ed call out after me, but I just ignored him and kept running. I ended up somewhere around the science wing, which was basically deserted, and sank down to the ground, gasping for breath.

I buried my face in my arms, huddled up into a little ball in the corner. God, why did this have to happen now? I thought I had finally escaped all of that... I couldn't deal with this, not now that I had friends, that I was getting along with people...

I had been trying pretty much my entire life to convince myself, and everyone around me, that I was straight. It had all a started when I was about five years old, and had kissed my best friend. With almost any other person, this wouldn't have been an issue. I mean, we were just kids, for gods sake! But this particular friend came from a very homophobic family. He told his parents, who completely freaked. Pretty soon it felt like everyone knew about it. My parents stood up for me, and lost some pretty close friends because of it. I didn't want that to happen again, not to me or to them. S I'd decided that I could never do anything like that again.

I thought that would all be over when we moved to America. When I got the note from that girl, it just seemed like confirmation that my efforts were working. I thought that I would finally be able to put all of that behind me once and for all. But apparently the universe hated me, because if Ed could see it, there was a fair chance that a lot of other people knew too.

Yes, I was gay. I just didn't want anybody to find out.

It took a few minutes for me to realize that I wasn't alone. I lifted my head up and saw pretty much the last person who I wanted to see me like this- Berwald.

He was standing in front of me, looking down with a weird amount of concern on his face.

"T'no? Y' ok?"

I made a bit of an effort to sit up, to look a bit more normal. "Yeah, of course. Totally fine, see?" I tried to put my usual smile back on my face, but apparently it didn't work, because he obviously wasn't fooled.

He sat down next to me. "T'll me wh't's wr'ng. I s'w y' r'n past in th' h'll. Wh't h'ppened?"

"It's nothing, Berwald, really. I'm fine."

He gave me a look, and I sighed. "All right, so I'm not fine. But I Wesley don't want to talk about it."

I didn't realize I was crying until I let Berwald wiping away my tears with his thumb. And with that I got up and ran again, leaving him looking after me.

3333333

The next day, I walked into the building trying to avoid everyone's gaze. I spent the entire morning looking down a the floor. Lukas seemed like he was going to ask me what was wrong in art class, but he didn't. Den was still avoiding me, and I hadn't seen Eduard all day, much to my relief. I hadn't wanted to go to school today in the first place, but I couldn't tell my parents what happened without worrying them.

And now I knew that the next class I had was going to be really difficult to get through. Biology was next period, and I was almost certain Berwald wasn't just going to let it go.

Sure enough, I could feel his eyes on me as soon as I walked in. Wen I sat down, he didn't say anything, but just continued looking at me. A few minutes into class, I started to relax, thinking maybe he wouldn't ask me anything after all. But then he slid me a piece of paper.

*what happened, Tino? *

I sighed and pulled out a pen, writing down my answer.

*i don't want to talk about it. *

He frowned at the paper, then scribbled on it for a few minutes before sliding it back.

*tell me, Tino. I want to help. I know something happened, and I want to know what it is. *

Why did his handwriting look so familiar?

*Berwald, I really don't want to talk about it. *

*I'm your friend, Tino. I want to know what bothered you so much. *

He really wasn't going to give up, was he?

*Fine, I'll tell you after school. It's too much to write down. *

He nodded.

*Fine. And please don't try to runaway again. Give me a chance to help, ok?*

I nodded, not meeting his eyes, and steeled myself for what was coming after school.

* * *

_Hey guys, sorry for the long wait (again). Unfortunately, it's probably going to continue to be like this, at least for the next few weeks. School is starting up again tomorrow, so it's gonna be pretty hectic for a while, what with trying to figure out classes and schedules and such. I'll try my best to have another chapter up by this weekend, but I can't promise anything. Sorry this one is so short as well... Thanks for being so patient with me, you guys are awesome!_


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